Search Results (21)

Against the backdrop of China’s “public-to-railway” freight policy that has led to railway yard congestion and imbalanced modal capacity utilization, this study develops a Dual-Channel Cargo-Transportation Service (DCTS) system model using queuing theory to optimize freight flow allocation and pricing strategies. Integrating the behavioral decisions of governments, carriers, and cargo owners, the research employs M/M/1 queuing models and the Logit choice framework to analyze the dynamic equilibrium between goods waiting times and carrier profits, exploring objectives of minimizing system-average waiting time and maximizing carrier profits. Key findings show that regulating highway pricing can effectively divert freight flows to reduce railway congestion and improve system efficiency, with optimal pricing intervals for highways identified based on service capacity to balance congestion relief and profitability. The model quantifies the trade-off between transportation costs and waiting times to guide cargo owners’ mode choices, and numerical simulations validate that strategic highway price adjustments alleviate bottlenecks and enhance modal synergy. This paper provides a theoretical basis for the government to formulate freight-transportation policies and optimize freight flow allocation. At the same time, it also provides a practical, theoretical basis and methodological reference for carrier pricing decisions, as well as for solving the problem of freight flow congestion and optimizing the pricing of transportation services. Full article

In China, there is a significant surge and fluctuation in the passenger flow of high-speed railways during holidays, and the holiday line plan is made by adding weekend/peak lines to the workday line plan. Therefore, finding a balance between the adaptability to passenger flow demand and such a relatively fixed line plan structure has become a difficult problem, which is a crucial factor in the sustainable operation of railway passenger transport. This paper first designs and proposes an algorithm for compiling the line pool of weekend and peak lines. By introducing the time dimension, a multi-day train service network is constructed. Then, an optimized model for the holiday line planning problem (HLPP) that comprehensively considers passenger flow demand and plan structure is established. Taking the Qingming Festival as an example, the results showed that among the trains with expanded formations in the optimized holiday line plan, short-distance trains accounted for nearly 70% and some long-distance trains was cancelled, reducing the operation cost by 4.46% compared to the actual plan. The train routing plan also maintains similarity to the weekday EMU circulation. It is demonstrated that the method proposed in this paper can achieve a better balance between efficient resource utilization and operational stability, enhancing the sustainable operability and profitability of the high-speed railway system. Full article

Container transport is one of the most promising modes of international freight transport. Railway container transport is mainly carried out using flat cars. Container cars can be damaged under the most unfavorable operating load conditions of a 1520 mm track gauge, i.e., shunting collisions. In this context, an improvement to the supporting structure of flat cars is proposed to ensure their strength, involving the installation of special superstructures in their cantilever parts to limit the movement of the containers. The choice of the superstructure profiles was made on the basis of the section modulus of their components. Mathematical modeling of the dynamic loading of a flat car with containers in the event of a shunting collision was carried out. The determined value of acceleration was taken into account in the calculation of the strength of the load-bearing structure of the flat car. It was found that the maximum stresses were 24% lower than the allowable stresses. Therefore, the strength condition of the flat car was met. The results of this study will contribute to reducing damage to container transport vehicles in service, to the formulation of recommendations for their construction and to an increase in their profitability, including in international transport. Full article

The choice of management strategy for companies operating in different sectors of the economy is of great importance for their sustainable development. In many cases, companies are in competition within the scope of the same activities, meaning that the profit of one company is at the expense of the other. The choice of strategies for each of the firms in this case can be optimized using game theory for a non-cooperative game case where the two players have antagonistic interests. The aim of this research is to develop a methodology which, in non-cooperative games, accounts for the benefits of different criteria for each of the strategies of the two participants. In this research a new integrated sequential interactive model for urban systems (SIMUS)–game theory technique for decision making in the case of non-cooperative games is proposed. The methodology includes three steps. The first step consists of a determination of the strategies of both players and the selection of criteria for their assessment. In the second step the SIMUS method for multi-criteria analysis is applied to identify the benefits of the strategies for both players according to the criteria. The model formation in game theory is drawn up in the third step. The payoff matrix of the game is formed based on the benefits obtained from the SIMUS method. The strategies of both players are solved by dual linear programming. Finally, to verify the results of the new approach we apply four criteria to make a decision—Laplace’s criterion, the minimax and maximin criteria, Savage’s criterion and Hurwitz’s criterion. The new integrated SIMUS–game theory approach is applied to a real example in the transport sector. The Bulgarian transport network is investigated regarding route and transport type selection for a carriage of containers between a starting point, Sofia, and a destination, Varna, in the case of competition between railway and road operators. Two strategies for a railway operator and three strategies for a road operator are examined. The benefits of the strategies for both operators are determined using the SIMUS method, based on seven criteria representing environmental, technological, infrastructural, economic, security and safety factors. The optimal strategies for both operators are determined using the game model and dual linear programming. It is discovered that the railway operator will apply their first strategy and that the road operator will also apply their first strategy. Both players will obtain a profit if they implement their optimal strategies. The new integrated SIMUS–game theory approach can be used in different areas of research, when the strategies for both players in non-cooperatives games need to be established. Full article

With the rapid development of China’s economy, railway transport has increasingly become the main mode of medium and long-distance transport in China. At the same time, we find that in the process of technical improvement, the greenhouse gases emitted from railway locomotives not only affect the environment but also have a big influence on operational effectiveness. In order to clearly understand whether the total undesired output—CO₂ emissions—will have an impact on railway efficiency and the environment, we proposed a Malmquist–Network DEA model. Based on the data of 18 railway bureaus in China during the period of 2006–2020, we adopted the Malmquist–NDEA model to analyze the different efficiencies of each stage of the railway operation in China and analyze the environmental efficiency of China’s railway using temporal and spatial dimensions. We found that (1) including the CO₂ emissions as an undesirable output in the model has an inverse effect on both the overall efficiency and the production consumption and profit stage efficiencies; (2) the average overall efficiency of these 18 rail bureaus has shown relative stability, and the negative effects of CO₂ on the construction development and production stages are much lower than on the consumption and profit stages; and (3) the rail systems in the eastern areas have higher efficiencies in their construction development stage compared to the other two areas. Full article

Sustainable transport is a critical and complex issue that the world is currently facing. Managers of railway companies in particular face significant challenges in achieving self-sustainable management of their assets. This paper introduces a new causal loop and explores the interaction among company dimensions—including financial, social, and environmental aspects—in order to assess the financially sustainable management of Raja Corporation, one of the largest railway companies in Iran. Our main contribution is the proposed system dynamics (SD) model, which can aid in policy analysis for Raja, a company that operates multiple routes within the country. The presented model compares different strategies employed by Raja using economic, social, and environmental indicators to evaluate the financial sustainability of the company. Our findings demonstrate that government subsidies may boost the company’s revenue, but they also hinder the rate of profits. Additionally, we highlight the impact of inflation on the company’s financial sustainability, showing that higher ticket prices may have a considerable impact on profits. The proposed approach of using the SD model may help specialists evaluate the sustainability management of transport sector corporations and significantly enhance their performance. This study highlights the importance of taking a comprehensive approach to assess the financial sustainability of railway companies, considering the interdependencies among various dimensions of each company. The findings of this study may have implications for policymakers, managers, and researchers in the transport sector, especially those who are interested in sustainable management practices. Full article

High-speed railways as a competitive intercity transport solution in areas of high population density have been constructed rapidly in the last decade. Accessibility measurements have been frequently tested and applied with various definitions, indicators, and processing methods for assessing traffic system utility. In this paper, an improved method of accessibility measurement based on travellers’ profitability is introduced. Three levels of accessibility indicators, Daily Commute Accessibility (DACC), Daily Work Commute Accessibility (DWACC), and Weekly Commute Accessibility (WACC) were designed based on different commuting frequencies and purposes. The average traveller’s income and local living cost were integrated to simulate the real commute scenario and assess the status of the transport system. In the case study, a series of statistics, containing 50 lines of travelling data and 10 years of economic data, was collected from the historical railway service record and local economy yearbook, in an area with 11 cities connected by conventional normal-speed and upgraded HSR networks in the east of China. An index sheet measuring the three levels of accessibility indicated the changes in the travel benefit ratio throughout the test period following popularisation of the high-speed service. To validate the practicability of the new methodology, regression analysis of four groups of panel data, including the accessibility index and local demographic data, was implemented to illustrate the population fluctuation impacted by the HSR services. The results proved that the HSR service is more beneficial in reducing population aggregation than the conventional railway service, which has the opposite effect, leading to the generation of cities with a high population density, and could help to rebalance the local uneven population distribution and promote the progress of urbanisation. Full article

It is proposed to improve hopper wagon design to provide the possibility of simultaneous transportation of different types of cargo. This improvement consists of dividing the body into two separate sections, interacting with each other through a vertical wall and horizontal connecting belts. A calculation by using the FEM in the SolidWorks Simulation has been carried out to determine the strength of the construction of the two-section hopper wagon. The results of the research showed that the maximum load of the hopper wagon occurs in the first design mode (impact). However, the obtained stresses were lower than permissible by 30%. To calculate the indicators of the wagon dynamics, modeling was carried out. All received dynamics indicators were within the permissible limits. For transporting a hopper wagon on railway ferries in international traffic, it is suggested to use units for the fastening chain. Research of the dynamic load of the hopper wagon supporting structure was carried out through mathematical modeling. The strength analysis of the hopper-wagon-bearing structure was carried out. It was found out that the stresses in the hopper wagon structure did not exceed the normative values. The results of the research will contribute to the increased profitability of railway transport. Additionally, the results of the work can be useful in the creation of modern designs of wagons, including for international traffic. Full article

In recent years, the government of China has paid increasing attention to environmental protection issues and has frequently emphasized the importance of ecological civilization. The high-speed railway transportation mode has outstanding advantages in terms of land utilization, energy conservation and environmental protection. China’s high-speed railway networking features are increasingly prominent and are constructed based on the rapid passenger transport network. Additionally, they save resources and are environmentally friendly while meeting safety, punctuality and profitability standards. Electric multiple unit (EMU) routing plan optimization is an important issue for improving operational EMU efficiency and reducing operational costs. At present, the Chinese EMU routing plans for holidays and weekdays are prepared separately because the holiday train timetable requires more EMUs and maintenance tasks. Different integrative optimization measures are considered, and a model is constructed to integrate an optimized weekday and holiday EMU routing plan problem and minimize the EMUs used and EMU maintenance tasks. The proposed model is based on the branch-and-price algorithm, and a real-world case study is conducted. The real-world numerical experiment shows that the amount of EMU maintenance can be reduced to some extent through the integrated optimization of tasks, but it is difficult to reduce the number of EMUs due to the structure of the train operational timetable. Full article

Investments toward a carbon-neutral forest industry will change forestry and wood procurement in Northern Finland. The changing market situation requires data-driven DSSs for the strategic management of logistics. Using this software, logistics were described by a continuing wood flow model and optimized by a dynamic method. Three logistics scenarios described wood flows in the present and in the future. The optimization minimized the economic and environmental costs, which decreased by 4.9%. However, synchronized multimodal transportation costs increased by 23.3%. Therefore, maximum logistics efficiency necessitates increases in railway transport capacity. The change would also decrease CO₂ emission costs. Under scenario-specific circumstances, logistics operations could be focused on four profitable regions, increasing market shares at municipalities. To guarantee environmental sustainability of these municipalities, optimization of timber markets between forest owners and forest industry must be developed further by driving data from the EU’s emission allowance price compensation mechanism to the optimization process. Full article

Scientifically and reasonably pricing products and allocating slots are key to improving the profitability and competitiveness of high-speed railway expresses. In this research, we focus on the freight transportation pricing and slot allocation of high-speed railway express companies in a competitive environment. The goals of this research are to make decisions on the pricing and slot allocation schemes of the high-speed railway express between sections through the method of multicriteria decision making, and then to test these changes in reality. This research innovatively takes the high-speed freight Electric Multiple Unit (EMU) train as its research object and innovatively applies the revenue management theory to high-speed railway express research in a competitive environment, proposing a comprehensive decision-making model based on the sharing rate model. The results show that, by adopting the scheme proposed in this research, the income of high-speed railway express companies can be increased by 13.6%. In addition, the method proposed in this research also enriches the current theory on high-speed railway freight transportation, providing strategies for companies to expand their market and increase profit. Full article

A transport business that has reached financial sustainability is one that is providing a service at a price that not only covers its costs but also creates a profit for upcoming contingencies. A focus on rail infrastructure financial sustainability is of paramount importance to guarantee the availability of punctual rail transport to remote potential users. To evaluate the sustainability of mass rapid transit on the relation among hypothetical key aspects of sustainability—perception of property; willingness to pay for maintenance, repair, and operations; confidence in the Roads and Transport Authority; and citizen participation in the rail project—and railway service punctuality, the most important result variable, was studied according to the specialized literature on rail transport sustainability. Leading information was collected by means of personal questionnaires of more than 1000 railway users according to the Krejcie Morgan formula for the calculation of the sample size knowing the population size. Qualitative plus quantitative information was gathered from different ways (technical test of the rail system, discussions with users, focus-group discussions, and interviews with key informers).The outputs by means of the statistical analysis allowed understanding two key perceptions. Firstly, beyond a half decade after construction, during a system intervention, a smaller perception of public property for the railway system was related to better service punctuality. This idea contrasts with the vast majority of the publications, which highlight a regular, direct relationship between perception of property and sustainability of railway systems. Secondly, in spite of three-quarters of users accepting that they would contribute monetarily for maintenance, repair, and operations service, such payments were not imminent because of the lack of confidence in the Roads and Transport Authority. In this situation, more than one-third of the metro stations were identified as non-punctual, beyond a half decade after construction. Full article

Maresme is a littoral region of Barcelona (Spain) in which the railway and an important road run along the coastline with a high landscape impact. Over time, several facilities connected to these transport infrastructures have appeared, such as industries, malls, marinas or train stations. These activities profit from the easy connection but create a barrier between the inhabitants and the sea. This research follows three aspects identified in a large variety of locations along the Mediterranean coast: longitudinal mobility, transversal accessibility and landscape discontinuities. The first territorial analysis defines a series of urban problematics classified by category. Then, the most representative case studies are developed by means of urban and architectural projects. The comparative analysis of these proposals provides a catalogue of design strategies which can be combined as criteria for solving multiple conflicts detected in the region. The result of this project is a methodology based on a matrix of general guidelines to ease the solving of local conflicts in a homogeneous way for the whole territory. The final aim is to re-establish order and continuity in the Mediterranean littoral skyline, fostering sustainable mobility and recovering public space for inhabitants. Full article

Nowadays, transport systems efficiency plays a key role for communities’ liveability and economy, being in addition an important factor in the economic integration of countries. The purpose of the article is to develop multi-stage models of tourist activities for optimizing the development of operating companies. For the implementation of models, the authors evolved the relevant system of organizational-functional support for the development of railway tourism. The research will enable us to take into consideration risks when planning tourist routes by railway, determine the order of construction or start of routes, and assess their profitability. This will provide to earn the expected incomes of all interested parties in tourist activities for the specified period. The authors created economic-mathematical models of the discrete optimal planning of the railway tourism operations. This takes into account conditions of risks and cooperation, and allows to determine which sets of effective routes are the most profitable ones. The results of the realization of the developed models include the task of the succession of the tourist route introduction according to the present and future infrastructure, availability of the rolling stock, etc. In this, consideration is given to obtaining maximum profit from tourism businesses for every participant during an established period. Full article

In western China, railway lines are sparse, and there is a large fluctuation in transport demand under different transportation scenarios, which yields severe difficulties in setting up a signaling system and making a train timetable. To meet the fluctuating transport demand effectively and provide efficient train services in the changing multimodal transportation market, a new Chinese train control system based on flexible minimum headway time (FCTCS) is introduced and going to be implemented. Considering that the cost of implementing signaling systems corresponding to different minimum headway times varies significantly, it is necessary to find an optimal minimum headway time and design its corresponding train timetable. In this paper, we propose a mixed integer linear programming model for selecting an optimal minimum headway time, with which a satisfactory train timetable is generated with the consideration of symmetry transport demand. The objective function is to maximize the total profit of train operation. We further develop genetic algorithm with an integer and binary coding method for searching for the solution. Finally, a set of numerical tests based on a railway line in a sparse railway network in western China is used to demonstrate the validity and effectiveness of the proposed model. Full article